Cassandra's Choice
by Dragonsbane
Summary: Cassandra is Ginny's best friend. She's also a Slytherin, who hates Draco Malfoy. It's their 4th year and Cassandra has to make a choice. What will she choose?
1. Treacle Tart Tug o' War

~*Chapter One: Treacle Tart Tug o' War*~  
  
Cassandra had gotten used to hearing Ginny moon over Harry Potter. After all, ever since they had become best friends in 2nd year, they had shared everything together. But today it was the first day of their 4th year at Hogwarts, and Ginny had told Cassie that she was finally over Harry Potter. They were on the Hogwart's Express in a compartment all to themselves.  
  
'You're finally over him?' Cassie asked excitedly. This was great news to her. Now finally she could pair Ginny up with someone more worthwhile. Cassie never found Harry Potter all that great. Not only because she was in Slytherin, but because he had never given Ginny the time of day. He never noticed when she got that fantastic new haircut in 3rd year, or the fact that she went to every single one of his Quidditch practices ever since her 2nd year. In fact he never noticed her at all, let alone that she went out of her way to try to make him notice her.  
  
"Yes. I'm finally over the famous Harry Potter," Ginny said, looking very proud of herself. Cassie hugged her tightly, and gave her one of her rare, large smiles. Cassie then gave Ginny a once over, and grimaced. Ginny's hair was in a messy wad at the nape of her neck. 'You can't go to Hogwarts looking like that. Here, let me fix you up.' Cassie then proceeded to braid Ginny's long red hair. Seeming pleased with her work, Cassie smiled again, her blue eyes sparkling underneath her bangs. Ginny had always admired how gorgeous Cassie was. She was a natural beauty, with long black hair and clear blue eyes, but she never really showed it, hiding behind a sneer or a scowl. Cassie rarely gave people a huge smile, unless she trusted them or knew them well enough.  
  
Ginny gave Cassie a withering stare, and them grabbed the brush from her hands. She began to brush Cassie's long hair until it shone. Cassie scowled at her, 'I can brush my own hair.' She then smirked cruelly, but began to laugh. 'Do I do a great impression of Draco Malfoy or what?' Ginny began to giggle, "Definitely!" Ginny cocked her head to one side at Cassie. "You still need something, Cass." She continued to study her face. "I know! You should wear some makeup!" Cassie looked horrified at the idea. 'Are you out of your mind?! Makeup and I do not mix!' Ginny raised one of her eyebrows "Just shut up and let me fix you up." Ginny then began to apply a touch of shiny lip-gloss to Cassie's lips. Then using a tiny brush, she applied some shimmer eye shadow lightly to Cassie's eyelids. 'Well? How do I look?' Cassie said curiously, striking a pose. Ginny gave her a warm smile. "Fantastic."  
  
The old witch with the trolley finally came round and Cassie bought them both a chocolate frog and a pumpkin juice. Cassie gulped down her juice, and looked uncomfortably at Ginny. 'Gin, I have something to tell you.' Ginny looked up from her chocolate frog and looked at Cassie. 'I think I have a crush on someone,' she said slowly. Ginny squealed, "You do? Who?" Cassie looked embarrassed, but before she could answer Draco Malfoy walked into the compartment.  
  
He gave Ginny a disgusted look, and then turned to Cassie. He looked her up and down and smirked, "Redwood." She gave him a scowl, 'What is it, Malfoy?' He narrowed his eyes at her, "I was looking for Blaise. Have you seen him?" Cassie smirked. 'Yeah, Blaise and I are just the best of friends and he would be hanging out with me,' she said sarcastically. Cassie absolutely hated Blaise ever since he started spreading rumors about her. Something about her sleeping around with the Gryffindors. She knew it was because he had asked her to the Yule Ball and she had said no. She had only got him to shut up by punching his face in, at the end of last year.  
  
Draco turned and left their compartment. 'Stupid git,' Cassie murmured. Ginny looked over at Cassie. She was scowling, her eyes narrowed. Her hands were clasped into fists on top of the ripped jeans she wore. Her face was flushed, and her jaw was clenched. "Cass, forget him." Ginny said, "Tell me who you have a crush on." Cassie smiled a little and unclenched her fists. 'I kind of like Seamus,' she mumbled, and reddened furiously. Ginny started to laugh. 'What?' Cassie said, feeling slightly offended. "Nothing. It's just I heard him tell Dean that you were "dead sexy." Cassie really colored at this. "Cass, haven't you looked in the mirror lately. You're gorgeous." Cassie knew she was right. She had gotten many compliments from boys ever since she had filled out in her 2nd year. She had never had a boyfriend since she was quite hard on boys, or she just liked them as friends. Ginny sometimes wondered why Cassie was put into Slytherin, but with her attitude and ambition, it made perfect sense.  
  
Cassie and Ginny talked about Seamus and possible boys for Ginny until the train lurched to a stop at Hogsmeade Station. Cassie and Ginny paled when they realized they hadn't put on their robes yet. Hurrying to put their robes on, Cassie and Ginny ran out before all the carriages were taken. To Cassie's dismay, the only carriage left was with Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan. Dean and Seamus were sitting opposite each other and Ginny made sure that Cassie ended up sitting next to Seamus. Cassie blushed and fumbled the entire trip to the castle. Dean and Seamus knew her since she spent so much time with Ginny and the other Gryffindor friends she had.  
  
When they were finally inside the castle, Cassie turned to Ginny and punched her lightly on the shoulder. 'I can't believe you!' she hissed. Ginny just laughed and they made their way into the Great Hall. Someone grabbed Cassie around the waist. "Hello beautiful." Cassie turned around to find her other best friend, Sammy. 'You idiot, why'd you do that?' she said, shoving him lightly. Sammy lived in Hogsmeade so he didn't take the train to school. He had grown over the summer, and he had grown his brown hair and he had it in a small ponytail at the nape of his neck. 'Nice hair,' Cassie said, pulling the ponytail lightly. Putting her arm around both her friends' shoulders, Cassie made her way into the Great Hall. Sammy and Cassie went towards Slytherin table while Ginny went to Gryffindor.  
  
Cassie and Sammy had been friends ever since their 1st year when they had tried to beat each other up. They had been fighting over who got the last treacle tart at the welcoming feast and they both ended up physically fighting until Professor Snape had came and given them both detention. They both had ended up with black eyes, and Sammy had scratches along his back, arms, and face. They still laughed about that sometimes, and Cassie couldn't have found a better friend.  
  
Cassie plastered on a scowl since she was entering Slytherin territory now. They took their usual seats at the near end of the table and waited for the sorting to begin. After the sorting had ended, Dumbledore introduced the new Defense against the dark arts teacher, Mundungus Fletcher, a man who looked to be in his late twenties with dark black hair and warm brown eyes. He smiled widely as everyone clapped for him.  
  
When the food finally appeared, Sammy and Cassie ate while they talked about their summers. Cassie had spent the entire summer training with her brothers in Quidditch. Since there were so many of them, they could practice easily. Cassie had 7 brothers, all of whom were out of school. Cassie's mother and father had died in a car accident when Cassie was very little, and they had lived with their aunt for a while until Dorian, her oldest brother, came of age to take care of them. Sammy had gone to France with his mother and father over the summer. Sammy didn't have any siblings, and he considered Cassie as his sister.  
  
Cassie reached for the last treacle tart, only to have Sammy reach for it at the same time. They were both holding on to it, and giving each other mean glares. 'I saw it first,' Cassie yelled. "Oh, no you didn't," Sammy answered back louder. Then they began a tug of war with the poor tart until they were standing and pulling as hard as they could in opposite directions. People had started laughing by now, and it egged Cassie and Sammy on. Then the tart broke in half and they were both sent sprawling on their bottoms. Professor McGonaggall came over and looked down at them. "Detention, Ms. Redwood and Mr. Jasper." Cassie and Sammy high-fived and they got up and sat down again. McGonaggal just her shook her head and went back to her table. Sammy and Cassie seemed very pleased with themselves for getting detention so soon into the new school year.  
  
After dinner, they got up, ready to fall asleep right then and there. Cassie leaned onto Sammy and they headed up to their common room with the rest of the Slytherins. Sammy yawned sleepily, "I'm telling you, I won." Cassie looked up at Sammy, 'Whatever you say Sam.' They headed down to the common room and the prefect gave them the password, "Salazar", and they headed to their dorms for some well earned rest.  
  
The next morning, Cassie woke up early and headed to the showers before anyone else could. She took her time getting ready, drying her hair with a spell and wearing it down for once. When she was finally ready, all the other girls were finally up, and Cassie made her way down to the common room. Sammy was already there, talking to some 5th and 6th year boys about something. Cassie walked over to them and said hello. To her disgust, Draco Malfoy was one of the boys. Her took in her appearance. She was wearing a skirt under her robes instead of the school trousers she usually wore. "Looking good today aren't we, Redwood." Cassie gave him an evil smile, 'Not for you, Malfoy, that's for sure.' Draco smirked even more, and Cassie gave him the finger. Grabbing Sammy's hand she pulled him out of the common room.  
  
When they sat down, and Cassie was sipping her juice, Professor Snape passed out their timetables. Cassie looked at her timetable in disgust. 'We have double potions this morning.' Sammy gave her a sympathetic look, "Potions is your best subject, and anyway, it's with the Gryffindors." Professor McGonaggal came round to give them their detention. "You will be serving detention on Friday night at 8 in the evening with Professor Snape scrubbing cauldrons." She walked away leaving two very depressed Slytherins.  
  
After breakfast, they made their way down to the Potion's Dungeon. Cassie went to talk with the Gryffindors that were already there. Sammy went to talk with some of the Slytherin boys. Ginny and Cassie decided to sit together with Sammy across from them. Professor Snape walked in and sat down at his desk. "Today we will be making a Truth Potion."  
  
Cassie got up to get the supplies they needed out of the supply cabinet. Cassie tried to juggle all the supplies in her arms, but one vial came loose and fell from her grip. Before it fell to the ground, a hand snatched it out of the air. She looked to see who it was, to find Matthew Killian looking down at her. Matthew was a Slytherin boy. He was one of Sammy's friends, and Cassie knew him only by sight. 'Thanks,' she said accepting the hand he was giving her to take some of her supplies. He walked her over to her worktable and put everything down, "No problem." When he had walked away, Ginny gave Cassie a knowing smile and started to giggle. Cassie clamped a hand over her friend's mouth. 'Shut up,' she whispered. When Ginny had finally quieted down, they got to work on the potion and didn't talk until it was time to leave for lunch.  
  
Cassie decided to sit with Ginny for lunch. Sammy went to sit with Matthew and his other friends. When they had sat down, Ginny turned to Cassie, "So." Cassie gave her a blank look and Ginny sighed. "I saw the way Matthew was looking at you." Cassie flushed at this. 'Shut up.' Ginny smiled and let the matter drop. Ron sat down next to Ginny and Hermione sat across from Cassie. Harry was left to sit across from Ginny. Cassie turned to Hermione, 'So, how's Viktor? Did you see him over the summer?' Hermione blushed and got a dreamy look in her eyes. Ron looked disgusted. Ginny giggled, "Are you two an item now or what?" Hermione nodded her head, still too flushed to speak. 'I'd like to stay, but I have to grab some books before I have Transfiguration with the 5th year Slytherins,' Cassie gathered her books up. "You have Transfiguration with the 5th years?" Harry asked. 'Oh, well I'm a little ahead of the 4th years so this year I am having it with the 5th years. So, by my 7th year, I won't have to take it.' She waved goodbye to them and made her way to the Slytherin common room.  
  
On the way to Transfiguration, she bumped into someone. 'Oh, I'm sorry,' Cassie apologized. She looked up to see whom she had bumped into. It was Malfoy. "Don't you ever watch where you're going?" he drawled. She pulled herself up, and glared at him. 'Fuck off, Malfoy.' He smirked, "Only if you'll join me." Cassie raised her eyebrows, "When hell freezes over, and the devil gives out free sleigh rides." Grabbing her bag she continued on her way to Transfiguration, only to find that Malfoy was going the same way. Cassie reached for the door to the Transfiguration room but before she could grab the handle, Malfoy opened the door. "After you," he said in a mocking tone. She glared at him but marched into the room. Cassie took a seat alone, since she didn't know anyone from the 5th year that she liked. To her disgust, Malfoy sat in the seat behind her. Throughout the entire class, Cassie had to listen to Malfoy's stupid, snide remarks to anything that McGonaggal said. When the bell finally rang, she took her time putting her books together, and walked slowly out of the room, so as to prevent another run-in with Malfoy.  
  
She made her way to her next few classes, and was eager to talk to Ginny by the time dinner came around. Not caring that she was supposed to sit at the Slytherin table, she grabbed a seat next to Ginny at the Gryffindor table. 'I can't believe that stupid git Malfoy! Trying to provoke me throughout the entire Transfiguration class! I don't think I'll be able to handle him for the entire year!' Ginny looked sympathetically at her. "Um..is this a bad time to mention Matthew?" Cassie raised one eyebrow, 'What?' Ginny grinned slyly. "Well, he happens to be in my Arithmancy class." Cassie suddenly looked interested, 'And?' "And your name just happened to have come up while we were talking." Cassie snorted. She was sure it 'just came up'. "He told me he was thinking about asking you to the first Hogsmeade trip." Cassie squealed, 'He did?' Ginny laughed, "You should see your face. I'm guessing Seamus is out of the picture." They both began to laugh and cheer, Cassie even did a little victory dance. 'Well that takes care of me, but what about you? Fancy anyone particular?' Ginny blushed. "Actually," she started slowly, "I happen to think Terry Boot is rather cute." Cassie gave her a blank look, 'Sorry, who?' Ginny rolled her eyes, "He's a Ravenclaw 5th year. Right there." Ginny pointed to a tall, blonde at the Ravenclaw table. Cassie considered him for a second then turned back to Ginny. 'He's not half bad. Rather good looking, too.' Ginny smiled and then the food appeared, and Cassie forgot about Malfoy as she dug in to her dinner.  
  
A/N: I tried to base Cassie's personality on my own. I don't think I did it to well. Although the whole tomboy part is right on track but if Malfoy had probably talked to me that way, I would've punched him right then and there. I made sure Ginny was finally over Harry Potter. I added Terry Boot because I haven't seen him in many fics. So.what do you think? Let me know. I don't mind flames, especially dragon flames, as long as they can help the story in some way. Until next chapter, I remain The Bane of the Dragon.  
  
~*Dragonsbane*~ 


	2. Sodden sponges and Slobbering Canines

~*Chapter Two: Sodden Sponges and Slobbering Canines*~  
  
When Friday finally came around, Sammy and Cassie had forgotten all about their detention. When they came down to lunch they were laughing and talking about Cassie's brothers. Cassie's parents had 7 boys and Cassie. Cassie always wondered if they wanted a girl and just kept on having kids until they got one, or perhaps one day they woke up and thought 'Oh my god! We have 8 kids!' That would stop anyone dead in their tracks. Cassie wasn't going to have very many kids. She could get her fill of whiny babies just by hanging around her brothers.  
  
The two Slytherins had just gotten back from Double Herbology, and were anxious to have something to eat. When they sat down at their table, McGonaggal wasted no time in hounding them about their detention. "Remember, 8 this evening in the Potion's Dungeon," she reminded them before making her way back to the Teacher's table. Cassie and Sammy exchanged a look, and groaned. This put a damper on the rest of lunch and Cassie wasn't too hungry anymore.  
  
At eight that evening, Cassie and Sammy made their way to the Potion's Dungeon, both wearing matching masks of gloom. When they entered the dungeon, they were both surprised to see other students there too. Cassie recognized Fred and George Weasley, and some other boys. But she was really surprised (and nervous) to see Matthew standing in a corner. After giving a half-hearted hello to the Weasley twins, she made her way across the room to talk to Matthew. 'Hi,' she said, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. He smiled at her warmly, and Cassie felt better. She felt like an idiot when she was around him, and was appalled at herself for doing so. They made small talk until Snape walked in. He told them to scrub every cauldron in the room and no magic could be used. He then left the dungeon, muttering about hexing them all if they weren't finished when he got back.  
  
Cassie worked alongside Sammy and Matthew, talking about the new Defense against the dark arts teacher. Professor Fletcher had started teaching their class about aurors. He had brought in some things they used and had talked about some of his own experiences. Cassie had overheard some of the girls in her dorm, talking about how cute he was. She related this to the boys and they laughed. Cassie agreed with them. She didn't find their professor handsome at all. But she did find Matthew very cute. She stole a glance at him, and nearly drooled. Matthew had brown hair and green eyes and his face was slightly flushed from scrubbing cauldrons. He had nice muscular arms, and broad shoulders for a 14 year old. Broad shoulders were a huge turn on for Cassie. He seemed to have noticed her staring and went red. Cassie felt embarrassed and quickly looked down and continued scrubbing at a cauldron with a stained piece of cloth. Then all of a sudden Sammy grabbed his wet sponge and hurled it at Cassie's face. It hit her smack on the side of her face.  
  
Cassie jumped up and grabbed her bucket of water, throwing the water at Sammy and getting George too. George yelled and grabbed his bucket of water and chucked the water at Cassie. She ducked though, and it hit Matthew instead. "Oy, what was that for?" he said as he grabbed his sponge and hurled it at Fred. "Hey, I didn't do anything!" Matthew grinned sheepishly, and shrugged, "Sorry, thought you were George." Cassie couldn't help herself, and threw Fred's bucket of water over Matthew's already damp, dark brown hair. Matthew yelled and turned around to see who had splashed him. Cassie held the empty bucket in her hand, and was laughing hysterically at the surprised look on Matthew's face. Matthew grabbed Sammy's bucket and hurled the water at her, smiling when she spluttered and gave him a mock glare. By now, everyone was soaking wet, and laughing.  
  
Cassie being the only sensible one, starting cleaning up the mess they had made and refilling the buckets with water. She looked at her wristwatch and gasped. Snape would be back any minute! She quickly did cleaning spells on all the cauldrons and began drying her drenched clothing and hair. The others had gotten the idea and were drying off too. As if on cue, when everyone was done drying up, Snape sauntered in and scowled. "Well, off to bed with you. You're detention is over." Cassie grabbed Sammy and Matthew's hands and the three of them were off before Snape could notice anything wrong.  
  
The next morning, actually afternoon, since Cassie was too tired to wake up for breakfast, Sammy bounded into Cassie's dorm room. He began to jump on Cassie's bed and yell, "WAKE UP SLEEPYHEAD!" Cassie groaned and sat up on the bouncing bed. Sammy landed next to her with a thump and smiled. 'What are you doing here? This is the girl's dorm.' Sammy rolled his eyes, "You're the only one still here. I was chosen to come and wake you up."  
  
"Chosen?" Cassie raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Well, none of the other boys wanted to feel the wrath of the dragon," Sammy answered using Cassie's nickname. Cassie had to laugh. All of Cassie's brothers either played professional Quidditch or studied dragons. Her family was known for its long line of dragon tamers and charmers. Cassie herself was going to study dragons when she was out of school.  
  
Cassie suddenly had an idea. She got out of bed, not even caring that she was only wearing one of her brother's boxers and a cut-off tank. She grabbed Sammy's elbow and pulled him outside the door and down the stairs into the common room. She sat Sammy down in a chair and grabbed his wand from his pocket. 'I am going to cut zis 'orrible 'air,' she said twirling a fake moustache. "WHAT?!" Sammy looked outraged. He tried to get up but Cassie had pinned him to the chair. 'Vat shall I do to 'elp zis?' she said taking Sammy's hair out of the elastic. She turned her wand onto a pair of scissors and began hacking away.  
  
A few minutes later, Sammy's long brown locks were strewn about the floor and Sammy's hair was now short and nicely cut. 'Well, Monsieur, I did vat I cud.' She bowed, and let Sammy look at his hair in the mirror. "Hey, it's not half bad." Matthew looked at Cassie, bewildered. "Where did you learn to do that?" Cassie grinned, 'With 7 brothers and not too much money, you learn things like this.' Grabbing Sammy's arm, she led him out the common room and down to lunch.  
  
Not until they were at the entrance to the Great Hall, did Cassie notice she was still in her pajamas. Well, her skimpy excuse for pajamas. Some Ravenclaw fifth year boys had passed by and were leering at her. She hit Sammy and used her wand to summon her favorite jeans and an old t-shirt to wear. Grabbing her clothes she fled into the girl's bathroom.  
  
When she got outside she stomped into the Great Hall and ignored the catcalls coming from the Ravenclaw table. Her ears were turning red, but she made it to the Gryffindor table and sat down. Sammy had gone to sit at the Slytherin table, and the girls seemed to be exclaiming over his hair. She was sitting next to Harry, and Ginny was in front of her. "How was detention?" Hermione asked, clearly disapproving of the fact that Cassie had gotten it in the first place. 'Couldn't have been better!' She smiled mischievously, grabbed a piece of toast, and ran out of the Great Hall laughing.  
  
Ron looked at Hermione, and Hermione looked at Harry. They all shook their heads and continued eating their breakfast.  
  
Outside Cassie was headed towards Hagrid's cabin, still laughing like mad. She knocked on Hagrid's door and waited for him to answer. After waiting for 2 seconds, she began to furiously rap on the door, shouting 'Hagrid! Yoo-hoo, you in there? It's me-e-e-e! CASSIE!' Cassie heard the scraping of a chair against the wooden floor, and seconds later, Hagrid's beaming face stared down at her. "Bin wonderin' wen you'd come ta visit!" Cassie grinned up at him and laughed, 'I've only been here for a week!" Hagrid laughed and ushered her inside.  
  
An hour later, after chatting with Hagrid about the usual (her brothers, schoolwork, Quidditch), and having a cup of tea, she went outside to play with Fang for a while. She always saved up a little time once a week to give Fang a good workout. Not only that, but she enjoyed Fang's company anyway.  
  
After a long game of chase with Fang, Cassie collapsed laughing into the grass, her arms wrapped around Fang's neck. Fang was apparently trying to drown Cassie in his own saliva and she had to push him over and sit up. 'Ewww! Fang! That's gross!' But he wasn't listening; he had fallen asleep and was emitting loud growling snores. 'How pathetic,' Cassie mumbled, shaking her head. She got up, cleaning her robes up with a spell. She made her way across the sweeping lawns towards the lake.  
  
Once there, she began to do cartwheels and practice some of her back flips. After finally finishing, she lay down on the grass, sweating. Suddenly she had an idea. Not caring that she was in her jeans, or the fact that there was a huge squid in the lake, she dove into the water, loving the feeling of the water jetting across her. She dove deep down until her lungs couldn't take it anymore, and then she surfaced. She got out again and she sat down on a rock by the lake and let the sun dry her. When she was finally dry, she got up, her wet shoes and socks in hand, and made her way back to the castle.  
  
Cassie burst into the Slytherin common room, not caring that people were staring at her meanly. She scowled back at them and ran up the stairs to her dorm. Inside, the other girls, whom Cassie called "the Bitch Squad", were doing a home spa. "Oh my god! WE'RE BEING ABDUCTED BY ALIENS!" Cassie shrieked at the sight of the 4 girls with green facemasks scowling at her. They all rolled their eyes and Cassie made her way to her bed, which was as far away from the other girls as she could get. Quickly changing into an oversized sweatshirt and faded jeans, Cassie ran down the steps and out towards the Great Hall for dinner.  
  
Cassie decided to sit next to Sammy today at the Slytherin table. When she sat down, Sammy seemed to be arguing with Draco Malfoy. He stopped when Cassie sat down and smiled at her. 'What was that all about?' she asked, concerned. She'd beat the living tar out of him if he'd offended any of her friends. "Nothing, Sammy muttered, and let the subject drop.  
  
Later on, in the common room, Sammy pulled Cassie over to a table. 'Wha..' Cassie groaned sleepily. "You ever wonder what Matthew did to get detention on Friday?" Cassie gave him a tired, blank look. "He has been purposely mouthing off to McGonaggal this past week in Transfiguration." Cassie still looked uninterested. "He's been trying to get a detention with you." Now Cassie looked interested. "How do you know?" Sammy rolled his eyes, "I asked him." Cassie opened her mouth but before she could say anything, Matthew walked over. Cassie not wanted be around him, for fear of embarrassing herself, said goodnight and went upstairs to a restless sleep.  
  
A/N: Well, how was my second chapter? Will Matthew finally ask Cassie to Hogsmeade? Will Cassie be able to endure a whole year of Transfiguration with Malfoy? Will Cassie find out what Sammy and Draco were arguing about? Will the aliens abduct Hogwarts? Tune in next time, and don't forget to review! Until next chapter I remain The Bane of the Dragon.  
  
~*Dragonsbane*~  
  
P.S- I'll add Ginny more next chapter! *hint, hint* 


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